Level-indicator for hoists.



No. 665,82I.

Patented Jan. 8, I90l.

0.1:. ANDERSON. I LEVEL INDICATOR FOB HUISTS.

(A lieltion filed Apr. 4,1890.

(No ModeL') THE Norms PEYERS c0, omcnc-uruo. \VA5HINGTON, 01c.

UNITED STATES CHARLES E. ANDERSON,

PATENT Enron.-

LEVEL-INDICATOR FOR HOESTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 665,821, dated January8, 1901.

Application filed April @1899. Serial No. 711.707. (No model.)

To Ml whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GHARLESE. ANDEEsoN, a subject of the King of Swedenand Norway, (but having declared my intention of becoming a citizen ofthe United States,) residing at Aspen, in the county of Pitkin and Stateof Colorado, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inLevel-Indicators for Hoists, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the engineer oroperator of a hoisting plant or apparatus located at or near amine-shaft may be readily informed of the exact position of a skip,cage, bucket, or other lifting-receptacle in such shaft or an incline,so that he may control the starting, stopping, and slowing down in speedof said lifting-receptacle with relation to the various levels orlandings in said shaft or incline.

Prior to my invention various telltale devices have been employed forenabling the engineer of a hoisting apparatus to know where suchlifting-receptacle which is being raised or lowered is in the shaft orincline, and practically they embody a strip of wood or metalrepresenting the total depth of the shaft or incline and having markedupon it letters or other indicia to indicate the different levels,stations, or landings therein. This strip has been either straight orbent in the form of a circle, and when straight a pointer travels up anddown said strip, while in the circular form a finger traverses the faceof the circle, like the hand of a clock, coincidently with the travel ofthe lifting-receptacle. These devices, While serving to locateapproximately the position of the lifting-receptacle in the shaft,cannot locate it with any great degree of accuracy, for the reason thatthe distance from one level to another, usually, one hundred feet,cannot be represented on so necessarily small a device by a greaterdistance than a few inches. For instance, if the distance on theindicator be six inches, then the movement of the cage in the shaft fromone level to another would be represented on the indicator more minutelythan the operator is capable of observing at the distance which theseindicators must be removed from his eye, and consequently the operatoris not able to tell within two or three feet the exact position ofthelifting-receptacle, and thus is liable to stop it below thelanding-chairs if they are not in position or drop it very heavilyonthem if they are in position. v invention is designed to obviate thisand similar difficulties which have been met with in the practical useof common indicators; and my said invention comprises an annularrotating plate or dial marked to represent the depth of a shaft orincline and the various levels, landings, or stations therein and apointer and a concentric external annular plate or dial revolving at ahigher speed than the first-named dial and also marked to indicate thevarious levels, stations, or landings in the shaft or incline, the speedof the outer plate or dial when the apparatus is running at full orapproximately full speed being so great that the marks thereon arepractically invisible. As the approach of the cage to a given level,station, or landing is indicated by the inner dial, the hoistingapparatus is slowed down, and this approach of the cage is indicated bythe approach of the mark on the inner dial toward the pointer, and whenthe corresponding mark on the outer dial comes plainly into view andcorresponding marks on the two dials come into alinement with oneanother and with the pointer the position of the lifting-receptacle isaccurately determined.

Having thus stated the principle of my invention, I will proceed now todescribe the best mode in which I have contemplated applying thatprinciple and then will particularly point out and distinctly claim thepart, improvement, or combination which I claim as my invention.

In the accompanyingdrawings, illustrating my invention, in both figuresof which like parts are similarly designated, Figure l is a plan view,and Fig. 2 is a vertical section.

The parts a, a, and a may indicate any suitable bracket, pedestal, orother support for my indicator. The part a has a bearing for adead-spindle b, which may be secured in position by the nut b.

c is an annular plate or dial having arms or spokes c by which the saiddial is secured to a hub d, which is mounted to revolve upon the outerend of the spindle b.

e is a pointer stationarily secured to the outer end of the spindle band beyond the dial a.

f is an outer concentric annular plate or dial which is provided witharms or spokesf, which are secured to or formed with a hub g, mounted torevolve freely upon the spindle Z) back of the hub of the dial 0. Thedials c and f are provided with numerals or other indicia equal innumber to the number of levels, stations, or landings in the shaft orincline.

h is a shaft mounted to rotate in the pedestal a ct (t and having keyedto it a sprocketwheel 2', which may be connected with the hoistingapparatus; but I do not limit my invention to any particular medium fortransmitting the motion of the hoisting apparatus to the indicator. Theshaft 7t has keyed to ita bevel-pinion 7c, which in turn meshes with abevel-gear Z, made fast to the hub g and imparting motion of rotation tosaid hub and its connected apparatus.

m is a hanger applied to the hub g and containing a stud n, which may befixed thereto, as by a keyor wedge a, and on this stud is placed abevel-pinion 0, capable of revolving freely upon the said stud. Thisbevel-pinion 0 meshes with a bevel-gear p, which is fixed to the spindleb and whereby the said bevelpinion 0 has given to it rotary motion. Thehub d of the inner dial has secured to it or formed apart of it thebevel-gear 1', which has a greater nu mber of teeth, preferably one ortwo, than the bevel-gear and meshes with the pinion 0 and is rotated bysaid pinion o to revolve the dial 0. Thus it will appear that the innerdial 0 has a rotary motion of less speed than that of the outer dialfandany suitable gearing which will accomplish this is within the spirit andscope of my invention.

Oil-cups s and s are applied to the hub g and the hub d, and in order tolubricate the stud It a hole '6 may be made in the hub g leading to anL-shaped channel 15 in the stud.

As already stated, it is designed that the outer dial be geared to runfaster than the inner dial, and by this construction the operatorsknowledge of the exact position of the lifting-receptacle in the shaftor incline is increased in the proportion that the outer dial revolvesfaster than the inner. In practice the outer dial is run at aboutone-fourth of the speed of the cage, so that it is easy for the operatorto tell within the fraction of an inch where the lifting-receptacle iswhenever he slows down to make a landing. At all other times the rapidspeed of the outer dial practically throws the figures thereon out ofview.

The object of my invention would be attained by having one of the dialsstationary and revolving the pointer; but I prefer to employ thestationary pointer and the two revolving dials.

As already stated, the gearing is proportioned to cause the outer dialto run more rapidly or at a greater speed than the inner dial. Oneinstance will suffice to illustrate a practical proportionthat is tosay, if the fixed wheel 1) contain forty teeth and the revolving wheel 0contain forty-two teeth and both of them engage with the samepinion 0then the outer or fast-running dial would revolve twenty times as fastas the inneror slowrunning dial, the theory being that the slowrunninggear will run as much slower than the fast-running gear in theproportion that the difference between the number of teeth in thesegears bears to the total number of teeth in the fixed gear.

The indicator marks or figures are not necessarily equal distances aparton either the inner or outer dial, these distances being regulated bythe distances between the different working levels, stations, orlandings of the particular mine-shaft, for example, in which theapparatus is to be used, and the ratio between the inner and outer dialshas to be practically determined by the speed of the hoisting apparatuswith which the indicator is connected. Hence the marks or figures are tobe placed upon the dials in accordance with the conditions existing inthe plant to which the indicator is to be applied. For example, supposethe indicator is to be applied to a shaft having three levels. If thedistance between the first and second levels be seventy-five feet andthe distance between the second and third levels be one hundred andfifty feet, then the distance between the figures l and 2 on the dialswill be only half the distance between the figures f2 and 3. If thehoisting apparatus is l'lll'lllillg very slow, the ratio can be, say,one hundred to one, or one hundred teeth in one gear-wheel and onehundred and one in the other, so that the outer disk or dial willrevolve one hundred times to the inner dials once. In ordinary practicethe outside dial will make twentyone revolutions to one of the innerdial, fortyfour teeth being on the one wheel and fortytwo teeth on theother, which is a ratio of twenty-one to one. Account has to be takenalso of the elongation of the hoisting-cable in determining thepositions of the marks or figures, so that the marking of the dials is amatter of practical experiment in any given instance of the use of theindicator and the relative speeds between the two dials is an arbitraryquestion.

Although I have specifically shown and dc scribed my invention asapplied to one specific use, I mean not so to limit it, for obviously itis capable of use to indicate the pe sition of other moving bodies thanthe cages or other lifting receptacles used in mineshafts, and may beemployed generally as an indicator, especially where the indicator andthe part or body whose location, condition, or positionis therebyexhibited are distant from one another.

What I claim is 1. An indicator, comprising essentially a pointer andtwo annular dials, one of these IIO three being stationary, anddifferential gearing interposed between the. other two to ef- :fecttheir revolution at different speeds, substantially as described.

2. An indicator, comprising essentially a stationary pointer, tworevoluble concentric dials, and differential gearing interposed betweensaid dials for the purpose of revolving them at different speeds,substantially as described.

3. An indicator, comprising essentially a stationary pointer, tworevoluble concentric dials, and differential gearing interposed be tweenthe said dials and adapted to revolve the outer dial many times as fastas the inner, substantially as described.

4. A level, station or landing indicator for the hoisting apparatus ofmines and the like, comprising essentially a pointer, two concentricdials marked to represent the various levels, stations or landings in ashaft, means for transmitting motion to the indicator from the hoistingapparatus, and gearing to which the motion is transmitted and whichgives different rates of speed to the said dials, substantially asdescribed.

5. A level, station, orlanding indicator, for the hoisting apparatus ofmines and the like, comprising essentially a pointer, a revoluble diskmarked to indicate the levels, stations, or landings in the shaft, andhaving a surface travel approximately showing the position or travel ofthe lifting-vehicle in the shaft, a second disk similarly marked andhaving a greater surface travel than the firstmentioned disk, adead-spindle upon which the said disks are mounted to turn, anddifferential gearing interposed. between the said disks for turningthem, substantially as described.

6. An indicator, comprising essentially a stationary pointer mountedupon a dead-spindle, an annular revoluble dial also carried by saidspindle, a second annular revoluble dial on said spindle, adriving-shaft and gearing interposed between the said driving-shaft andthe said dials to impart differential movement thereto in fixedproportion, substantially as described.

7. In an indicator, the combination of a dead-spindle, a supporttherefor, a drivingshaft, a revoluble annular dial mounted upon saidspindle and geared to said shaft, a loose pinion carried by the saiddial, a fixed gearwheel on said spindle meshing with said pinion torotate it, an inner concentric dial mounted to revolve upon said spindleand having a gear-wheel in mesh with and driven from the pinion carriedby the outer dial, and a fixed pointer, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of March,A. D. 1899.

CHARLES E. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

Gno. R. OoLE, EDWARD F. BROWN.

